Demonstration layout planner



Aug. 13, 1946. H. A. ARMBRIGHT 2,405,808

DEMONS TRATI ON LAYOUT PLANNER y Fiied April 17, 1944 ,Y 2 sheets-sheet 1 y Aug. 13, 1946. H, A ARMBRlGHT 2,405,808

DEMoNsTRAQIoN LAYOUT PLANNER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 17,` 1944 TWRNEY Patented Aug. 13, 1946 UNITED STATES PAT-ENT oFFicE 4 Claims.

My invention relates to a demonstrationlayout planner adapted for vuse in demonstrating and facilitating the making .of layouts of equipment, articles 0f furniture and the like, in a room of denite dimensions, soV that a lay person can readily visualize the precise arrangement and location that such articles will .occupy when installed .or setin place in such room. More `speccally it relates to a .modern kitchen .planner whereby a salesman can demonstrate to a prospective punchaser of kitchen equipment units, justhow the kitchen .would look with :the various units installed in place.

The vmodernization of kitchens and other rooms, for example, ,playrooms in a home with standard equipment and .articles of furniture is .at the present time proceeding atan accelerated rate. Kitchen .equipment .and .articles of furniture for such purposes are now being .manufac- .tured in units of .various sizes and packaged for direct shipment to the purchaser who, independ- .e .tly of, .or with .the aid of a salesman, .chooses .and orders the desired equipment which, upon being received, must be installed .or Lset in place. Of course, to arrive at a fair ideaof how the various articles .will fit into a .particular room, the .purchaser or salesman, .after measuringtthe room and deciding what articles vare to be .placed there- `in,.rnust make numerous calculations to Iascertain Vjust hcw said articles will best vftintolthe available space. .It is apparent that vsuch procedure is not only .time-consuming, but it also fails to present .to the purchasereither aclear `picture of the proposed arrangement or insure that said arrangement and disposition of the articles, when installed, willbe the best .possible Moreover, errors are liable .tobernade in thecalculations and `should they occur, will give rise :to considerable annoyance and its attendant expense .and loss of time in exchanging the-articles.

My present invention hasbeen dsigned to overcome all of the aforementioned objections in .that it eliminates all calculations, provides for freedom of re-arrangement Vof the articles until the preferred larrangement is decided upon, and enl ables the salesman or the demonstrator toquickly prepare a scale drawing of the approved arrangement, thereby enabling the purchaser, upon re ceiving the individually packaged articles, to have them installed according to the scale drawing. More specifically, my invention consists of a platform having two pairs of relatively movable'parallel Vrail members having scaled .measurements thereon, adapted to be adjusted tocorrespond to thegfour 'Walls :.of .the room Ato She equipped .or furnished, and for cooperation with said platform and walls there isprovided a set .of tiles or blocks made to thesame scale as the measurements on the rail members, each tile corresponding to a particular article of equipment, furniture or iiller piece and bearing an index marking for identification, so that yby positioning these tiles on the platform against the 1rail members and by superimposing certain tiles uponone another, any desired vplan or arrangement of equipment may be arrived at. diagram or sketch of the arrangement decided upon, it is merely 'necessary to place a sheet of paper on the platform beneath the rail members and the tiles and use the rail members and individual tiles `as templets for drawing on the paper v.the :room outline and the arrangement of the .separate pieces of equipment disposed therein. The invention will -be better understood froma consideration of the detailed description which follows, when considered in connection With the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure .,1 is a top plan view of a demonstration layout plannerv kembodying my invention.

Fig. 2 is a section taken substantially along the plane of the line 2-.2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. ,3. is a Yperspective view of `the crossed ends of onepair of rail members .showing their interdigitated relationship,

Fig, 4 is a perspective .View of aplurality of the tile members forming part Aof my invention.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a window strip usable with my invention.

Referring to the drawings, the reference character I El represents a hat., substantially rectangu lar platform of Yany suitable material such as l wood, plastic, Iindurated fibre or the like, lhaving formed therein, preferably .adjacent the .corners thereof, slots II disposed parallel to the sides of the platform and adapted to receive therethrough bolts I2 whichserveto hold railrnembers i3, each consisting of 7.a plurality of superposed `elements I4, in assembled relation. To hold the elements I4 in properly spaced relation, there are provided washers or spacing members I5 of a thickness .substantially Vequal to .or slightly Ygreater than the .elements M. There are .two Vpairs of rail members I3 lmounted to forma rectangle, With the elements of each rail member interdigitated with the elements of another rail member whereby the rail members are adapted .to be movable relatively to one another at right angles to each .other to provide substantially rectangu- .lar areas .of A.varying .dimensions .on .the platform, @it 'being 'understood that the relative :movements And Where it is desired to make a are controlled by the movements of the bolts I2 and each rail member has scale measurements ZIlH thereon visible through the topmost-element I4, whereby the r-ail members may be adjusted relatively to each other to correspond to thelongitudinal dimensions of the four walls of a roomV which the rail members in adjusted position are intended to represent. For holding the rail members in such adjusted position While at the same time to permit of their movement across the platform, the bolts I2 by which the rail members Vare held onto the platform, are provided with springtensioning means such as coil-springs 2l mounted between the holdingV nut I9 and the rear face 'of the platform. lIo compensate for the overlapping relation of the bottommost elements of the rail members, ller Washers I3a are provided. For convenience, washers 22 are disposed at the opposite ends of the springs 2l to providev proper bearing surfaces therefor. In view of the construction and arrangement of the rail members on the platform as hereinabove described, it will be apparent that the rail members are first assembled on the platform and the latter is then mounted on the frame I6 with the nut-engaging ends of the bolts slidably disposed in the grooves I8. After assembly, the device may be mounted in a suitable finishing frame indicated by the reference numeral 24.

For cooperative engagement with the rail members, there are provided a plurality of tiles or blocks collectively represented` by the reference characterZlIr, each of said tiles being preferably of rectangular form and made to the same scale as the measurements on the rail members, and each tile corresponding to a particular article 0f equipment, furniture, or filler piece, which is to be disposed within a room, the layout of which is to be planned. Each tile also carries an index 24a thereon for identifying the particular articie of equipment or furniture which it represents. For example, the base cabinet tiles may have an index including the letter B, a Wallcabinet may have an index including the letter W and tiles representing a refrigerator, a stove or a sink may have arbitrary indexes. Certain of the tiles, however, do not represent articles of equipment or furniture but are used as ller pieces for dispositionin the layout to take care of corners or other locations in the room where standard articles' of equipment are not available, for example, tile designated 24h represents a corner filler piece. The tiles 24 areof various sizes, corresponding to the dimensions of standard articles of equipment which are availablefor installation and said tiles are preferably made of greater thickness than the individual elements I4 constituting a rail member I3, but of less thickness than the total thickness of the-rail members, so thatat least' two tiles, for example, W-I83 and B-ISSS in Fig, 1, may be'superimposed on one another when placed in`abutting relation toV a rail member, Without danger of passing under or between the spaced elements of the rail'member.

If desired, the location of doors and windows in the room may be represented and definitely located on my device, and in Fig. 5 I have shown an adjustable member 25 consisting of a pair of telescopic elements 25a and 251) dimensioned to be inserted between two superposed elements I4 of a rail member i3 as shown in Fig. 1, to denitely locate such window in the room layout being planned. Of course, similar members may be employed to locate other windows or doors in the room.

In the use of my demonstration layout planner iet it be assumed that it is desired to modernize a kitchen measuring approximately 11 4" by 10T 6" and that it is desired to use and retain the Vstove 26 and the refrigerator 2'I now contained inthe kitchen, either in the locations that they now occupy or in a preferred rearrangement thereof. The salesman or demonstrator will rst set his rails on the platform so that they will correspond to a room having the desired dimensions. He will then take tiles corresponding in size to the basic elements of equipment such as the stove, the sink and the refrigerator, and dispose them along the rail members at the positions where it is desired that they be located. Then, through the use of B-indexed tiles representing lbase cabinets, the remaining space along one or more Walls may be nlled in to locate the positions of such cabinets and then W-indexed tiles may be superposed upon these base tiles to represent the location of wall cabinets to be located in the kitchen. In this connection it will be apparent that, inasmuch as the wall cabinets are of less depth than the base cabinets, by placing the corresponding wall cabinet tiles in superposed relation tothe base cabinet tiles, the relationship of the base and wall cabinets will stand out quite prominently. With respect to taking care of a corner of the room whereat it isnot convenient or desirable to place a base cabinet, a filler piece such as tile 241) may be inserted thereat, and, if desired, a corner wall cabinet such as 24e may 'be superimposed upon the tile 26h representing the filler piece. Inasmuch as kitchen equipment is now manufactured and packaged in standard sizes for direct shipment to the purchaser, it will be appreciated that by locating the denite positions that various articles of equipment will occupy in 'a given room by the use of my invention, a prospective `purchaser will obtain a denite idea and visual picture of the iinal arrangement of such equipment in the kitchen. It will also be apparent that by the use of my demonstration layout planner, the tiles may be rearranged to represent various layouts until a preferred one is decided upon. When such preferred layout is chosen a permanent record thereof may be readily obtained by placing a sheet of paper on the platform and extending under the rail members and then using the rail members and the individual tiles as templets, a diagram of the room and the various articles of equipment to be disposed therein can be readily drawn in outline and suitably notated to provide a ready refi erence for both the purchaser and the installer,

when the packaged equipment is delivered.

For convenience, my demonstration layout planner may be mounted and carried in a suitable container (not shown) which may have compartments for the tiles to facilitate their use.

It'will be apparent that my present invention, althoughv primarily designed for planning and demonstrating the layout in modernizing kitchens, is equally applicable in demonstrating the layout of other rooms of a home, such as a playroom which may employ standard equipment, and for demonstrating and planning the layout of showrooms, stockrooms and the like. Accordingly, it is to be understood that my invention is not limited to the precise structure and arrangement of parts hereinbefore described, but may be varied within the range of mechanical skill without departing from the spirit of my invention, as dened in the accompanying claims.

What I claim is:

1. A device of the character described comprising a platform, two complemental pairs of rail members on said platform, each pair having its individual members disposed substantially at a right-angle to one another and to a complemental member of the other pair, at least one complemental Ipair of said rail members having its members relatively movable and adjustable to each other while maintaining the substantially right-angular relationship therebetween and having scaled measurements thereon whereby a substantially rectangular space provided by the adjustment of said movable rail members on said platform maybe made to correspond to the measurements of a given room, cooperating parts on the platform and on the movable rail members for guiding said rail members in their movements, each of the rail members of the pair of movable rail members consisting of a plurality of spaced superposed elements with the superposed elements of one rail member being interdigitated with the elements of the other rail member, and a plurality of rectangular tiles, dimensioned to the same scale as the rail members and adapted to represent articles of equipment, removably positionable on said platform in engagement with at least one rail member and with one another.

2. A device of the character described comprising a platform, two complemental pairs of rail members on said platform, each pair having its individual members disposed substantially at a right-angle to one another and to a complemental member of the other pair, at least one complemental pair of said rail members having its members relatively movable and adjustable to each other while maintaining the substantially right-angular relationship therebetween and having scaled measurements thereon whereby a substantially rectangular space provided by the adjustment of said movable rail members on said platform may be made to correspond to the measurements of a given room, cooperating parts on the platform and one the movable rail members for guiding said rail members in their movements, each of the rail members of the pair of movable rail members consisting of a plurality of spaced superposed elements with the superposed elements of one rail member being interdigitated with the elements of the other rail member, and a plurality of rectangular tiles, dimensioned to the same scale as the rail members and adapted to represent articles of equipment, removably positionable on said platform in engagement with a rail member, said tiles being of less thickness than the total thickness of a rail member whereby at least two tiles may be superimposed on one another in engagement with at least one rail member without passing under or between the interdigitated elements of the rail members to represent the relationship of articles of equipment to be demonstrated by the device.

3. A device according to claim 2, wherein both complemental pairs of rail members are movable relatively to each other and each rail member consists of a plurality of spaced superposed elements which are interdigtated with the elements of the adjacent rail members.

4. A device according to claim 2, wherein a longitudinally adjustable member consisting of a pair of telescoping elements and representing an opening is adapted to be mounted and frictionally held on a rail member to locate the position and width of such opening in the representation of the given room.

HARRY A.` ARMBRIGHT. 

